Friendship is a Funny Thing
by ms.fredweasley
Summary: She didn't know why she was friends with Azula. Was it because she admired Azula's confidence? Was it because Azula added excitement to her life? Or was it because Mai was just that desperate for a friend? How Mai and Azula met.


**Friendship is a Funny Thing**

She didn't know why she was friends with Azula.

Was it because she admired Azula's confidence? Was it because Azula was the only one who wasn't intimidated by her? Was it because spending time with Azula would mean spending time with Zuko? Was it because Azula was the only thing that added excitement to her life?

Or was it because she was just that desperate for a friend?

Mai doesn't know why she put up with Azula all these years, but she remembers how their friendship started.

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"_Mai, stop fussing. You look fine," Her mother hissed, swatting Mai's hand away from her dress. Nine year old Mai glared at her mother, then down at her dress. It was probably the most repulsive thing she had ever seen. It was red, with pink fluff on the hem and the ends of the sleeves. Her parents thought it looked adorable. Mai thought it looked ridiculous. _

_Her parents looked ridiculous too. Her mother was wearing a long black gown with a black cloak over it. There was a sash at the waist, accenting her body. Most people would think it looked flattering. Mai thought her mother was trying to look younger than she really was. Her father was wearing a crisp looking red robe. To Mai, he was trying to look too professional._

_The occasion for this special dress was that Mai's family was going to meet the Fire Lord. Fire Lord Azulon was going to assign Mai's father to a village for governing and Mai's mother was going to introduce her to the young fire nation princess. The two girls were going to go to school together in a few weeks, and Mai's parents thought it would be good for Mai to have such a high class friend._

_They were approaching the doors of the palace now. Mai's mother looked at her and said, "Mai, this is a very important visit we are making. We are the Fire Lord's humble guests, so you must be on your best behavior. And please try to make friends with The Princess. This visit could open many doors for your father."_

"_I know mother."_

_A servant escorted the family into a huge room. There were pillars along the tiles and an entire wall was engulfed in flames. Fire Lord Azulon was sitting on a platform at the center of the wall. Directly in front of him was a table. Seated at the table was a stern looking man with a long, black beard, a woman with a welcoming smile, a girl about Mai's age, staring directly and respectfully at the Fire Lord, and next to her was a…rather good looking boy. He looked older than she was, but not by much. He was staring at her, with a curious expression. When he noticed she was looking back at him, he quickly turned his head away shyly. This caused Mai to blush, which then caused her to mentally kick herself for feeling so silly._

"_Welcome honored guests," the man said. His voice sounded angry, but not in the about-to-lose-your-temper way, "Please come and sit. Make yourself welcome."_

_Mai's parents both bowed, so she copied them. "It is an extraordinary honor to be invited to the Fire Lord's palace," her father said in the most humble way he could. Mai closed her lids to hide her rolling eyes._

_Before sitting down, Mai's mother introduced Mai to the Fire Nation Princess and Young Princess._

"_I would like to introduce to you my daughter, Mai"_

_The older princess smiled at Mai and put a hand on the Young Princess's shoulder and said kindly, "I am Princess Ursa. These are my children, Young Prince Zuko and Young Princess Azula." She gestured toward the boy and girl. Azula smiled, well it looked more like a smirk to Mai, and Zuko grinned bashfully. Mai and her mother respectfully bowed, and then sat down. The meal began._

_As they ate, the mothers chatted._

"_Does Mai attend school yet?" Princess Ursa asked._

_Mai's mother grinned, eager to tell the Fire Princess about Mai, "She will be attending the Royal Fire Academy for Girls in a few weeks. Does Young Princess Azula attend there?"_

"_She will, at the same time as Mai," Princess Ursa smiled, turned to Azula and said, "Isn't that great, Azula? Mai will go to the same academy as you."_

"_I'm sure the girls will become great friends."_

_After dinner, Mai, Azula, and Zuko were ushered out of the room so that the adults could talk about politics or some other subject that Mai really didn't care about. _

"_Come in my room!" Azula said eagerly, pulling Mai down a long hallway, "It's beautiful. You are going to love it." Trying to keep up with her, Mai ran after Azula. Finally, they entered the bedroom. It was beautiful. There was a queen sized bed with red and gold silk sheets. The bed had a gold canopy. The carpet was also gold, with a very detailed and intricate design. When Mai looked up, she noticed that even the ceiling had a gold design. Then she looked at each wall. They were painted a mahogany red. On one wall was the biggest mirror Mai had ever seen (although did a nine year old really need a mirror four times the size of her?). On the opposite wall were nine paintings of Azula, apparently one for each year of age. They started with the painting of a baby, and ended with one of the girl standing in front of her._

"_What do you think?" Azula said, obviously eager to hear Mai's opinion, "Impressive, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah, it's very impressive," Mai said in wonder. It took a lot to impress Mai, but this girl's room definitely did it._

_Azula sat on her bed, satisfied with Mai's answer. Mai sat on the other side of the bed. There was a short silence before Azula broke it._

"_So, Mother says we are going to the same school. Have you ever had schooling before this?"_

"_No," Mai responded._

"_I have. We have a royal tutor, Zuko and I," Azula said with pride in her voice, "but Mother thought it was time we socialize with other people besides ourselves."_

"_That's kind of the same with me," said Mai, "I don't make friends very easily either."_

"_It's not that we don't make friends easily," Azula said quickly, "But no one our age comes here. You're the first one."_

_Mai was surprised at this news. She would have thought Azula would have met many people, being royal and all._

"_So, do you know what you're wearing on the first day of school?" Azula said._

"_No," Mai said. Why would she pick her outfit so long before the day of the event? Who would waste their time doing that?_

_Aluza's seemed a bit turned off by Mai's lack of interest, but she shook it off and began describing in great detail the dress she was going to wear. Normally, Mai would have droned this entire speech out, but something about it was different. Even though Azula was obviously bragging, the way she talked really intrigued Mai. Her voice had power; it was the kind of voice that made people feel obligated to listen to. This was new to Mai. It was always easy for her to ignore people, but it was hard to ignore Azula. She had some kind of edge in her voice that gave her authority, more authority that even Mai's parents gave off. _

_Apparently, Azula's brother didn't feel her power because the young prince poked his head into the room and interrupted Azula._

"_What are you guys doing?"_

_Azula glared at Zuko and said, "Mai and I are talking about girl stuff. You're not welcome here."_

_Zuko walked into Azula's room and asked, "Well, can't I join you?" It was a polite way to ask it, but his voice sounded annoyed._

_Azula didn't buy it, "No you can't. You are a boy, so you can't join in with the _girl_ talk. Why don't you go make some friends of your own? Mai is _my_ friend."_

"_Whatever," Zuko retorted, "I'll go do my own things." With that, Zuko stormed out of the room. His voice actually sounded hurt. Mai looked at Azula. Did she really just tell her older brother off? How did she do that? Mai was taught to never _ever_ talk back to an elder, but this girl did it so easily and had such confidence in her voice._

_Once Zuko was out of the room, Azula turned to Mai and smiled, "Now that he's gone, we can continue in peace." They went back to Azula's clothes. She had opened her closet and was showing Mai every single dress she owned. Now was the part where Mai got bored, but she didn't do anything rude. Instead, she played along with Azula, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the right outfits. Because that was what friends did together._

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It wasn't Azula's confidence or authority. It wasn't Zuko. It wasn't the excitement. These were all parts of it, but the real reason why Mai put up with Azula was because she had chosen her over her own brother. Azula preferred spending time with Mai. For some reason, she enjoyed being with Mai, which was different for Mai. No one had ever wanted to spend time with Mai, but for some reason, Azula did.

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Somewhere on an isolated island, Azula sat in her cell, wallowing in her insanity. Many thoughts floated around her head. Some were nonsense, but most of the others were issues Azula had never faced, such as her mother's abandonment, the first boy Azula liked, and Azula's first friend: Mai.

As Azula emerged from another painful flashback, she understood.

Before now, she never addressed why she liked Mai so much, but when these thoughts were forced into her mind, like many others, she was forced to remember. Even though Mai never really gave input of her own, she still listened. Azula felt it. She could always feel when people were and weren't listening to her. Mai was always listening, and it gave Azula the power her mind craved. When Mai stopped listening, and disobeyed Azula, it flipped a switch in Azula's mind. Her one loyal listener was not there anymore. It made Azula feel vulnerable. That was the door through which the insanity began creeping in.

Both Mai and Azula now knew why they became friends, but neither will ever know how life-changing their friendship was on each other.

* * *

**So, this sort of just came out. Tell me how I did!**

**=) =)**


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